How To Be A Pirate 2: Monsters and Legends
by DisGRACEtothehumanRACE
Summary: Less stumbles across an old-and creepy!-house in the woods. Inside, she finds a strange couple; A foolish middle-aged man and a wise middle-aged woman, who both have a knack for singing, and predicting the future. What does the future hold for Less and her friends? Could these people be the dangerous and deadly people she has heard about in tales of death and destruction?
1. The Smoke Monster

**I'm back again! I'm so glad I finally have the time to get back to How To Be A Pirate! YAAAAYYYY! Thank you so much for reading, and I would love it if you could leave a review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD, all rights go to Dreamworks, Cressida Cowell, and now Cartoon Network.**

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Chapter One

The Smoke Monster

I blinked my droopy eyes open, then quickly slid them into a tired squint. The sun made me feel that much more tired, and it felt as if I had fallen asleep in the middle of the afternoon, and my mouth had that odd taste, and all my senses had a fuzzy feeling to them. The morning air whipping at my face and tangling my loose, auburn hair helped a bit, giving me that beloved feeling of freedom. The flapping of wings was comforting, some mornings when my Skrill, Glimmer, wakes me up for our early rides, it gets a bit lonely, but with my dad, his Night Fury, Toothless, my brother, Blunder, and his Timberjack, Woodchipper, it's not that bad. Well, not that it was bad in the first place, of course.

"Less, three yaks are straying to the left of you!" Dad shouted to me, pointing.

"I'm on it!" I shouted back, cueing Glimmer into a dive toward the yaks. As soon as we got on the far left end of the yaks, and there was no danger of hurting them, Glimmer shot her lightning-fire at the nearby rock ledge. The white-blue fire hit a rock just jutting out of the ledge and seemed to absorb it, the fire almost appeared to be rotating around it for a moment, before it dissapeared into the earth nearby. The yaks, startled by the sight and sound of her extraordinary fire, bolted back to the safety of their herd.

"Good job," Dad praised as Glimmer glided back above the herd.

I nodded a thank you, and sat a little straighter in my saddle. We were all eating breakfast at our table when Mulch and Bucket came knocking on our door, asking my father for his help herding the yaks from the spring and summer pasture to the fall and winter one, which was closer to the village. Due to the herd's number increasing abnormally this year, it was not a job for two older men on foot. So, my mother had stayed home to tend to the house and any of the villager's problems while me and Blunder voluntarily helped Dad. I just shouldn't have stayed up so late last night, teaching Zephyr how to fly on Glimmer.

About a week ago, Zephyr had realised that just about everyone our age on the island had a dragon of their own. He kinda felt bad about being the only one without a dragon, which kinda made me feel bad, and decided to help him. I asked dad for advice and help, and he said to first teach him how to ride. So, of course, I volunteered Glimmer as a 'Flier's Ed' dragon. I decided to start him out how I started out... Earning Glimmer's trust. Due to the incident two months ago, it took Glimmer a while longer to open up and trust Zephyr than it would normally take a dragon to trust it's rider's friend. We had just begun flying yesterday, and Zephyr did, well, good... except for when he crashed into the middle of the barn, and we had landed in a huge heap of old, moldy hay, and gave the animals inside quite a fright.

I didn't see Zephyr before we went out to move the yaks, but I was sure he was sore. I know I was, and I could feel Glimmer's stiffness through the saddle, and could tell her reaction time is rather slow, due to the soreness.

I swooped down a little lower, and took over watching the middle of the herd, my dad moving to my left side and Blunder staying on my right. I sped up a little as the yaks did, maybe they knew the new pasture wasn't too far off now. Then I saw how they were beginning to scatter, keeping in biggroups, but breaking off just barely. I wouldn't have paid much attention to it, if they hadn't pushed their young into the center of their running bunches. I could tell something was off.

"Something's wrong," I hollared over the ever-quickening sound of their hooves, "they're nervous about something,"

"Well, duh," Blunder loudly replied, "we're on dragons!"

"No, she's right, Blunder," Dad yelled, "look at their formation. Try to get them closer together,"

Toothless and Woodchipper began blasting fire balls to the sides, causing the yaks to run closer together, as planned, but they began to get even more firghtened, almost terrified. What could it be that's making them so afraid?

Then I heard what sounded like a far off roar. Glimmer was the nervous one now, she gave a small squak, and I scratched the side of her head to reassure her. Then, I turned my head around slightly to see if I could spot whatever dragon that was. But, strangely, all I could see was dark clouds. Even stranger, it looked more like smoke than clouds. In fact, it was smoke. Was that what the yaks were so afraid of? I searched the ground near the smoke, but it wasn't connected to the ground. Nothing was on fire, because the smoke was hovering in the air. Okay, that was really weird. I turned back around and diverted my attention back to the herd ahead of me.

The flapping sounds of dark wings against the sky must have been drowned out by the yak's thundering hooves and frightened cries. I didn't even realise how close it was until I heard my father scream.

"LESS!"

I whirled my head back around to where I saw the smoke. I saw a flash of grey the exact shade of the smoke that was now closer than the first time I had seen it, just before I was knocked from Glimmer by a dark wing, hitting me in the back with such force I lost all the air in my lungs, my feet were torn out of the stirrups, and I slipped from the saddle. Glimmer grabbed me by the leg as I fell past her talons, and I hung there, upside down, in mid-air, terrified.

"Hold on, Less!" Dad yelled to me, "Try to climb back onto her!"

Glimmer tried to fly lower to the ground as I forced myself to reach foreward and grab onto her leg, which was still holding mine. I found this very hard, mainly because my legs are longer than my torso. I was in a mid-air, upside down toe-touch-like position now, and I finally grabbed a hold of Glimmer's silver talon, when I peered up to get a better look at the dragon above us. It was much bigger than Glimmer was, with scales the color of the dark smoke it spewed out of it's large mouth. It somewhat resembled a Monstrous Nightmare, except it's size was quite bigger, but not by too much. It's wings were frayed at the ends, and it's claws long and sharp, giving it a mysterious, almost ghostly look. It's mouth, like the Nightmare, was full of razor sharp teeth, it looked so much like the Nightmare, in fact, that I thought it must be a distant relative of it. It appeared almost as if instead of making itself enveloped in fire, like the Nightmare, maybe it enveloped itself in smoke.

I saw one of the smoke monster's long legs swoop down, and I opened my mouth to shout a warning to Glimmer, but was too late as it swiped at her, knocking her right out of the sky, and she began to fall, the hit jarring her so much she let go of my leg as she fell. I was falling so fast through the air I barely knew what was happening before the ground, poluted with yaks, raced up to meet me, and everything went black as I hit the ground.

**0/~~~~~~~~~~\\0**

**Cliffhanger! Sorry it's so short, and it's been so long, but school has been killer. Anyway, thank you so much for reading. Tomorrow my horse has to be put down, thanks to her battle with arthritis she's been fighting for about 2 years or so. So please know, that even though I may not be able to post another chapter too soon, or respond to many of your lovely reviews, they are still greatly appreciated, and the make my day.**

**So thank you so much!**

**LOVE!**


	2. And It Just Keeps Getting Better

**Disclaimer: I've got nothing to say other than I don't own HTTYD or Riders of Berk.**

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Chapter Two

...And It Just Keeps Getting Better and Better

Light seared my closed eyes. I groaned a complaint, and tried to move. Big mistake. Even more pain climbed slowly up my right leg, mangling my spine, making my still-closed eyes water. That light would not go away, no matter how much I struggled, no matter how much I moaned. Suddenly, a pair of gentle, but strong hands grabbed my arms and tried to hold me down. Panicing, I kicked my legs, then bit my tounge so hard I tasted blood. My right leg hurt so bad! Another pair of hands, a bit tougher, this time, grabbed both my legs, careful of the right one, and held me down there, too. The hands holding my arms then released my, and shook me, not hard, but quite gingerly, and I heard a voice, a man's voice, and he was saying something, I think, maybe... My name? I couldn't be sure, for it was far too muffled to hear for sure. It sounded almost as if I were underwater, like I was drowning. What was going on? I tried to lash out with my now freed arms, flailing them desperately in all directions, until one of my clenched fists contacted something hard and soft at the same time from the side. I heard a somewhat familiar, muffled grunt, and the arms shaking my shoulders released me, then the hands holding my legs down released me, as well.

I heard more muffled voices, now at least two, the same man's voice from before, and a women's voice, both very familiar, but I couldn't hear them well enough to be sure. I stilled and listened to them, and their voices slowly became more decipherable as I listened.

"...she's coming back around, but I don't think it'll happen too soon," that was the woman, her voice warped and wavering as I listened, "she won't be out for long, but she's not alert enough yet to wake up right now, I don't think,"

"Oh, she's plenty alert," the man's voice, now, and he seemed a bit aggrevated...and sarcastic.

The woman chuckled a bit, then I heard footsteps, as if she were moving closer to the man, "Are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah," the man said, sarcastically, but I could hear the smile in his voice as he said, "I'm perfect. She has your arms. When I wake up tomorrow, my shoulder'll be sore,"

The woman laughed, "I'm sure that if she knew it was you who grabbed her, she wouldn't have swung at you,"

This time, the man was the one who laughed, "She's got your attitude, too,"

"And what is that supposed to mean?" the woman teased.

"Oh, nothing, just that I'm sure she'll make some poor man a very happy one, some day," he teased right back.

They both laughed. Their voices were quite clear, now, but it still didn't occur to me who's voices they were. After they had stopped laughing, their voices became serious.

"Speaking of," the woman paused, possibly for either dramatic effect, or for the awkwardness of the current conversation, "that poor man... how's Zephyr been doing?"

The man gave a small chuckle, "He's been doing pretty well, actually, a bit homesick, I guess. I think that's why he's been busying himself with finding a dragon. Less has been helping him,"

"Oh, really?" the woman's voice had a bit of a sly edge to it.

"Yeah, she came to me asking about how to get him on a dragon, and I told her to first train him to fly. I guess it's been taking Glimmer longer to trust Zephyr after-"

"Right," he didn't have to finish his sentence for the woman to know what he was talking about, "you said he was homesick? The poor thing. I don't blame him, he's probably never left his island before. Where's he staying at?"

"He's staying in that litle house nearest the woods," he said, "It's the only place room enough,"

"What does that mean, 'Room enough'?"

"It's basically a regular house, just built for one person," he hesitated, but after a short pause, I could tell the woman would not go without a real answer, "after what happened with him and Less, no one would really open their doors to him. So, me and the guys all built the house just outside of town, so everyone will be comfortable, and so he's still in town, but believe me, if we didn't already have two kids, and seven dragons already, I would have brought him in immediately, heh, Less would never forgive me if that weren't the case,"

They laughed a little, then the woman became serious again, "Hiccup, I need to tell you something,"

"Yeah, Astrid," he said, "of course, anything,"

"About the two kids thing," she began, hesitantly, as if she were a bit nervous, "um, I'm-uh, I mean we-" she sighed, then took a deep breath and began again, "soon, there's a slight chance-well, actually there's no chance about it, um, I'm positive that-soon, we won't have just two kids... we'll have-"

A sharp, fast knocking on a door, it sounded a bit faraway, interrupted her, and the man said, "I'll get that, hold that though, okay?" And I heard uneven footsteps as he walked away, a sort of _tap, spring_ sound every other step.

The woman sighed again, and said, to I'm sure herself, as the man's footsteps faded away completely, "-three,"

I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but I did realise who it was that had been talking. I mentally kicked myself for being so oblivious before, in fact, for just plain not paying enough attention to their voices, but more to what they were saying. I'm sure you figured it out before I did, right, dear reader? I should have recognized the voices first, but, in my own defence, I had a very bad headache, my leg hurt even worse than my head, and not only could I not see anything, but I couldn't hear very well, either. I'm just gonna stop explaining myself now, because I just made myself look reeeeaaalll stupid.

I forced my eyes open, and squinted through the light of the bright torch on my wooden bedside-table. My mother had her back to me, leaning up against my bed, her hands along the side, bracing her. She was looking at the floor, her weight on her right leg. She was staring at the floor, dissapointed-looking, almost sad. I swallowed, which hurt due to the dryness, then I licked my lips, not that it made much of a difference.

"Mm-Mom?" I groaned, my voice scratchy and raw.

She turned around, surprised, then smiled, "Oh, hey, Less," she said, then brushed my hair off my forehead, "how are you feeling?"

"Oh, believe me, I've been better," I replied. She chuckled, then picked up a cup off the bed-side table and helped me sit up. She held the cup for me and tipped it up carefully, the liquid chilling my chapped lips, and when it hit my throat, I felt so much better. I swallowed, and Mom put the cup back on the table.

"What happened?" I asked, as she carefully laid me back down.

"You fell off Glimmer," she said, feeling my forehead for a temperature.

"Hmm, no way," I said sarcastically, "I mean what happened _after _that. The last thing I remember, that, that... _thing_ knocked me off Glimmer and I... fell,"

"Yeah," she said, worry evident in her eyes, "you were lucky. Your dad said Glimmer swooped down low before she was hit, she saved your life. If you had falled from the height he said you were at, you could've been-"

She stopped, and when I looked up and her, she swallowed and bit her lip, "But, when you fell, one of the yaks ran over your leg, and broke it. Your brother flew you back here and your dad took Glimmer to Gobber,"

"How is she?" I asked, sitting up again, and wincing from the pain. Mom rushed to help me, and once I was settled, she answered hesitantly.

"Well, I actually don't know for sure, after he dropped Glimmer off, he came back here to see how you were. I'm sure she's fine, though,"

The image of the monster flashed in my head again, sparking my next question, "What was that thing?"

"What thing?" she replied.

"The thing that knocked me off Glimmer and almost killed both of us," I said, a bit irritated.

"Oh," she said, "that thing,"

"What?" I asked, she obviously knew something, and I was determined to get her to say it, "what is it?"

"It's a dragon-"

"Really?"

"I'm not going to finish if you keep interrupting," I silenced myself, and she continued, "your father and I came across one of these before. We actually thought it was some kind of smoke monster. It's actually a Smoldering Smokebreath,"

"A Smoldering Smokebreath?" I repeated.

"Yep, a wild one," she said. Just then, my dad entered the room, behind him, Blunder, and trailing him, Zephyr.

"Well, look who's awake," Dad said, smiling and walking to my mom's side and putting an arm around her.

"It took you long enough," Blunder said, walking to his bed.

"Oh, shut up Blunder," I said. Mom gave me 'The Look'.

Dad chuckled and said, "He's right, Less. You fell at around eight-thirty, and it's about ten o'clock at night, now. You were out for a while,"

"How's Glimmer?" I asked, Mom turned to look at him, waiting him answer.

"She's fine," Blunder said, sitting on his bed, "I was just with Gobber. She's just a bit stiff, that's all,"

I breathed a sigh of relief, and so did three other people. I turned to Zephyr, who was standing in the shadowy corner, as silent as he had been since he walked in. He gave me a guilty smile and winked, and I smiled back. Dad must've seen our little exchange, because he began to steer Mom toward the door.

"Okay, I'll bet you're hungry, huh, Less? Your Mom'll start on that, and Blunder will help, right buddy?"

Blunder groaned, but when Dad gave him his 'Look', he jumped up, "Oh, oh, yeah, I'm starving," Blunder and Mom then left the room.

"Okay, so I've got to-um, I have a... so, uh, I'll just... Yep. See-see you in a few," he then scurried out, closing the door behind him.

When he was gone, Zephyr, with his arms folded across his chest, slowly made his way to my bed.

"So," he began, once he reached me, his hands resting on the side of my bed, "how are you feeling?"

"Well," I said, deciding to repeat what I had said to my mom, just to get the concerned look off his face, and to maybe, _just maybe_, get him to smile, "I've been better,"

He gave me a scowl, "I'm fine, just..." I trailed off, as he gave me another scowl, I sighed. There was nothing he couldn't get out of me, I guess, "It hurts. A lot,"

The look Zephyr gave me next made me wish I hadn't said anything. The pain I saw in his eyes, the sadness, the pure guilt, it seemed as if he blamed himself for my injury, which I know he has no reason to do so.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, quietly.

He shook his head, looking down at his feet. I wasn't taking that for an answer, "Zephyr," I said, utter seriousness in my voice, "What. Is it?"

He looked back up at me, eyes slowly calming, "That's a good question," he chuckled once, and ran his hand through his hair, stopping it at the back of his head, and closing it into a fist, then opening it several times, "honestly? I don't know,"

I decided to change the subject, "You've been doing well, with Glimmer, I mean,"

"Less," he said, irritated, "don't change the subject,"

"Do you want to add something else?" I challenged.

He was silent for a moment, and I knew I had him, "I crashed her, Less," he said, "I crashed your dragon. And you call that 'doing well'?"

"Yes," I said, honestly, "she trusts you. And she can still fly, but we just have to be careful next time,"

"Less, I can't believe you're even considering a 'next time', I could have hurt her-" He advanced on me, grabbing me by the shoulders, "I could have hurt you!"

I winced and grunted in pain as my leg was jolted, and he gasped and let go, then jumped back. He kept stepping back until he was back in the shadows of my room behind the door.

"See?" his voice shook with anger and something I wasn't too sure about, "I told you. I don't think about how my actions will effect the people around me. You're a lot more delicate and fragile than you look, and no offence, but you look really, really fragile, Less,"

I swallowed, and opened my mouth to say something, anything, to prove him wrong, to let him know I'm stronger than I look... Or... Maybe not. But I was interrupted by the door swinging open, and Gobbeer and my dad strolling in, accompanied by the rest of my family. Mom and Blunder went to my left side, opposite the door, and Dad and Gobber stayed on the right, closest to the door.

"'Ey there, Less," he bellowed, his spirits ever high, "how's that leg 'a yours?"

"Oh, it's just getting better and better," I said, sarcasm dripping from my voice.

"Well, that's a good sign," Gobber replied, choosing to ignore by comment, then turned to my father, "I know I said this the day she was born, Hiccup, my lad, but I knew she was going to be just like you!"

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, "you've said that almost every other day since the day she was born,"

Gobber chuckled as, unbeknownst to him, behind them, Zephyr slipped around from behind the door, and silently left the room, and the house. Gobber pulled my blanket away from my leg and lifted it up a bit. I almost cried out in pain as he pulled it up to eye-level.

"Can ya move your toes any?" Gobber asked. I tried to, but they would not budge, although it did cause me a great deal of pain just to even try to move them.

"No," I answered.

He thought for a moment, then flicked my calf. I yelped in pain, Blunder, Mom and Dad gasping at my sudden reaction. Gobber then dropped my leg-and when I saw dropped, I really mean dropped, like he just let go of it and let it fall-onto my wooden bed. I shrieked, my parents making concerned, but pointless sounds and forming meaningless words, for they knew Gobber knew what he was doing. Blunder just stood there, his face screwed up in a half-wince, half-sympathetic look.

"Yep, it's broken alright," Gobber said, turning to leave, the others moving to follow him, "all you have to do is stay in bed for four weeks you can walk again,"

"And then it's healed?" Mom tried to confirm.

"Oh, no," Gobber said, turning back around, "that's just until she can step outside. And when she does, she'll have to use a cane and can't run or fight at all. It'll take her leg six to eight weeks to heal entirely, depending on the severity of the break. But, either way, you should be thankful,"

"Ugh, thankful for what?" I complained, disgusted at the thought of having to stay in bed for four weeks.

"Thankful that you're alive, young lady," Gobber said, suddenly sounding like Dad, now, pointing his hook-hand at me, "had you fallen any higher than the height you did, you wouldn't be here right now," then he brightened up in a second and said, "well, I'm off, good luck, Less, feel better,"

With that, he turned around and began walking away, the rest of my family trailing him.

"Goodnight, Less," Dad whispered as he closed the door and blew out the torch on my bed-side table, making my room as dark as the night outside my window.

"Goodnight," I whispered back, but, of course, no one could hear me in the lonely darkness of my room.

**0/~~~~~~~~~~\\0**

**Tada! It's done and up! Thank you so much for reading, and reviews are always appreciated and loved. And for all of you that have already written a review, thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO O much, I love you!**

**LOVE!**


	3. Sweet Release

**Hello, all! I'm back! I'm SO sorry for not updating recently, I have been insanely busy these past... How long's it been? Four months? Geez. I've been beating myself up over the past couple of months for not updating, so thank you all so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites for this storry and my past stories! You all light up my gray sky!**

**Disclaimer: Obviously I will never be awesome enough to own anything but my OC's.**

**0/~~~~~~~~~~\\0**

Chapter Three

Sweet Release

I remembered when my father first brought me to the forge. I couldn't have been more than eight. He had been overwhelmed with the Dragon Academy and running the village at the time, so, to give him a break, my mother took over his duties for the day. Bored, he then decided he would teach me how to work with metals, just like he had when he was my age, younger, in fact. I remember the heat that swept over me as we entered the little shop, me on my dad's shoulders, him holding my hands to keep my little body balanced. The fires of the shop burned slowly, barely lit, but still enough to make it sweltering. I had never really summed up that I was afraid of fire until that day, even though it had followed me around my whole life, lurking in the torches and fire pit in the Great Hall, in the candles that lit my room in the dark of night, in the fires from the dragons that lived all around us. It was irrational, and I suppose now that the reason I didn't realise it until that day, was because it was dormant most of that time. As long as the flame wasn't too close to me, I didn't mind it. As long as I couldn't feel it bite my flesh, I didn't pay too much attention to it. But back then, I hadn't known. But after that day, that fear seemed to be all I knew.

Dad set me down on my feet once inside, and, still holding one of my hands, led me to the stone pit. I lifted myself up onto my tiptoes, but I was too short to peer in and see what was inside. It was hot, judging by the steam the billowed heavily and slowly out of the inside and danced in the hot air to the ceiling, so I couldn't grip the edge and lift myself up. My dad chuckled and placed his hands under my arms, lifting me up just enough to see the coals quietly burning away and heating my face, gently at first, but it only took seconds for the coal's heat to begin to singe the pale, freckled skin of my face, the heat becoming unbearable a moment later, and I asked him to let me down again.

He led me to an unfinished sword on his work table. Picking it up and observing it for a moment, then bringing down to my level to gaze at. The shining metal instantly entraced me, reaching out to run my finger along the silver edge, but before I could, he brought it back, my trance interrupted, and warned me gently.

"Don't touch the edge," he had said, "it's sharp and will cut you."

I was puzzled for a moment, looking back at my father's work. Of course, I had seen what swords could do, and know that weapons similar to it are sharp, and all weapons can hurt you, but no one had ever shown me up close the features of a sword made by my father's hand.

I must say, I was a bit intrigued and surprised that something could be so dangerous, and yet so beautiful, especially something as simple and a sword. I suppose the same goes for anything, including a boy.

My father brought out a small hammer, and told me he would teach me how to shape it correctly. I was excited and when I git excited, I get giddy, and when I git giddy around fire, I get nervous. It can quite dangerous for me to be nervous, especially around fire. He brought up a stool for me to stand on, and hauled me up in front of the stone pit.

"Put the stone end into the embers," he said, guiding my hands to the correct positions outside of the pit, and then letting go so I could do it on my own, "be careful."

As soon as he let go, I felt just how heavy it was, my hands fell from the positions he had lifted them to, and the hammer fell forward. Had I not have paniced as soon as I felt the fire's heat and accidentally let the hammer fall, everything that happened next could have been prevented. my hands wrists fell onto the sides of the pit, the sides of my hands into the sweltering coals. The pain took a long moment to hit, but when it did, I screamed. My father screamed my name and yanked me backwards, running me over to the polluted, cold water basin nearby. My hands plunged themselves into the water without me even realising it. In the fast seconds since the hammer fell into the coals, it had been knocked out and onto the floor by my hands, and the heat from the stones alone had set fire to the wooden floor of the forge. Dad grabbed a bucket nearby, dipped it into the water where my hands were, and dumped it over the flames.

I remember the stinging in my eyes and the sizzling of the flesh of my wrists as they trembled beneath the dirty water. Tears rolled freely and messily down my cheeks, tracing my chin, tickling me gently before dropping into the water, making the water more of a mess with every tear that fell. I didn't try to control my sobs as my father approached me and gently pulled my hands out of the water, tipping them so my palms faced the wall next to me on one side, and the open door frame on the other, observing them cautiously. His face was contorted with sympathy as he looked my burned hands over. The disappointment in his face was just enough to make my sobs a little louder; he knew I would never be like him, and so did I. And that hurt. It hurt a lot. It burned. Just the same as the burning on my hands. The kind of burning that would leave scars as prominent and easy to regret and remember as a broken window. Pieces shattered and scattered across the floor, only allowing you to watch your own reflection as your mistake slowly registers in your eyes, but the edges forbidding you to touch them, for you will only bleed and be in even more pain.

I still have those scars.

**0/~~~~~~~~~~\\0**

After three weeks of only visits from my family and Gobber, my friends, Frey and Tremor walked into my room. Frey and Tremor had always been my closest friends, and, although Zephyr understands me better, they were a sight for sore, sore eyes. I had missed them dearly, and, based on their tight hugs and broad smiles, they had missed me too. I accepted their squeezing embraces with deep appreciation. My low spirit immediately raised when they wrapped their arms around me as we giggled like children.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you guys!" I said when they had both taken a seat carefully on my bed.

"Oh, yes we do!" Frey giddily responded.

I sighed and said, "One more week until I can get _out_ of here,"

Tremor smiled and added cheerfully, "We can't wait!"

"So, tell me what I've missed since your last visit!" I said excitedly, leaning towards them slightly, careful of my still-injured leg. For the longest time, I sat there quietly as they recalled all the interesting happenings around the village that I wasn't able to view. They talked about people, dragons, yaks, sheep, and just about anything else under our sun. Anything, except for one thing that I was particularily interested in. After they had finished, I decided to bring it up.

"So, um, h-how is Zephyr?" I asked rather shyly.

They were silent for a moment, before looking at each other reapproachingly and then back at me, before Frey began a bit nervously, "Well, we haven't been seeing too much of him lately. He mostly just keeps to himself. We've never really talked to him, we've tried, but he usually just dismisses us,"

"He must be so lonely," I said, more to myself than anyone else, and my voice sounded faraway, as if my thoughts were drifting to wherever Zephyr was.

They regarded what I said before Tremor finished for Frey, "In the mornings, all he does is chop wood, he's out there by the time we go out to train, then he hauls the wood to the market. We don't even think he sells or trades it, he just drops it off and goes back home. Then he goes into the woods for the rest of the day, and comes back hauling a tree with a cart for the next day. It's weird, though, he always comes back covered in dirt and sweat, but sometimes he comes back with dark stuff on his clothes, Blunder thinks it looks like ash, but every now and then, there's stuff that looks like blood on his clothes,"

I thought about what he said for a moment before asking, "Do you notice any cuts or anything?"

Frey looked at Tremor, and a second later, he looked back at her, "We've seen at least three different ones, one across his bicep, one on his forehead, and one on his hand. They've all mostly healed, though, and we've never seen him get anyone to clean them up, either,"

I sighed. That was really stupid of him. They must be infected by now. Frey must have noticed slight frustration in my eyes, because she asked me, "He hasn't visited?"

"No, not really, the last time I saw him was three weeks ago. Even before that, he kinda kept him distance. I mean, he's got his whole, 'aloof, loner' thing, but I'm not too sure that's the only reason behind my not seeing him lately," I told them.

"What about when you first broke your leg? Blunder said that he came by then to see how you are," Tremor pointed out.

"Blunder told you about that?" I asked, a tiny bit peeved.

"Um, well, yeah. I mean, he put it in air quotes, but I didn't know that we weren't supposed to know," Frey then said, and I could tell she was a teency bit hurt by it, after all, she and Tremor were my best friends, next to Zephyr, and if I couldn't tell them something as simple as Zephyr coming over to see me, then what else was I hiding from them?

"No, no, it's not that, it's just... I didn't know Blunder was suddenly talking to my friends, is all," I finished, hoping that would make them understand a little better.

"Oh, yeah, uh, we kinda asked him to tell us," Tremor contributed, sheepily. I smirked at them. Just like me, they were nosy.

"And he just told you, right off the bat?" I asked, my smirk growing as I came to my own conclusion.

"Actually, they cornered me," came a voice from the hall.

I turned to see Blunder walking in, glaring slightly at Frey and Tremor as they tried to stifle their giggles, "Dad says Less needs to rest, so everybody out," he dutifully called. I groaned and Frey and Tremor said their goodbyes. Blunder stood by the door as they left, then exited as well, closing the door behind him, leaving me alone wikth my thoughts, which was something I had grown to dislike over the past three weeks.

**0/~~~~~~~~~~\\0**

The next week passed just as slowly as the previous three. Gobber came by on the last day and checked out my leg. It had healed better than expected, allowing me to walk on it, but I needed a crutch to help me. My father had fanshioned one out of wood and presented it to me that morning. Accepting it greatfully, I began to walk around the village, observing the changes that were made during my absence and enjoying the fresh air. First off, I went to see Glimmer, who was estatic to see me after four ridiculously long weeks. I laughed at her excited squaking and flapping of wings, and knew immediately that she wanted to go flying. Of course, she could fly on her own, but I could sense that we both felt more complete when I was on her back. But, unfortunately for both of us, Gobber had said, "No flying,".

After reuniting with Glimmer, I decided I would go visit Zephyr, whether he wanted to see me or not. I limped over to his little house on the edge of the woods, and notice right off that he was not there. I observed his abode with growing curiosity. Wood chips and splinters littered the ground, but other than that, the yard was mostly empty, save for a large stump in the center. I approached it, and immediately noticed it had chunks taken out of it from Zephyr's axe. The tree it used to be had been cut down with quite a bit of skill, the surface flat and, if you got rid of the splinters, would be rather smooth.

The position of the sun told me it was around 5:30 or so, and I remembered Frey and Tremor telling me he was gone for "the rest of the day", so I went back to the entrance of his house and sat down on the door step, patiently waiting for him.

I didn't have to wait for long. I waited maybe fifteen minutes before I heard soft grunts coming from the woods. Turning my head, I tried to scope out the source of the noise, and spotted Zephyr's black hair. He had his head down, eyes focused on the ground ahead of him, sweat dripping from his brow, his exhaustion obvious on his face, he was hauling half of a large tree trunk, which was resting upon a wood cart. He didn't notice me as he pulled the cart up to the stump, taking a large axe out of the cart and set it down, leaning it against the stump. He then grasped the wood cart's handle, and slowly tipped it up, grunting with effort as he did so, the log rolling onto the ground, hitting the stump gently, and stopping. Zephyr put the cart back onto the ground, and picked up his axe. He aligned the weapon toward the middle of the log and lifted high above his head, before bringing it down again with immense force. The log was split halfway, and he lifted the axe again, and again brought it down, splitting the wood in half. Catching his breath, he set the axe back down, then bent over a half of the split wood. He wrapped his strong arms around it, then heaved it onto the stump to chop.

It wasn't until he turned to move the cart out of the way that he noticed me sitting on his doorstep. He gasped softly and jumped, then stood there for a second, surprise lingering over him, just staring at me, as if he didn't believe it was really me. I smiled at him, although I wasn't to sure I liked his appearence. He looked like he hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in four weeks. There were dark bags under his eyes, and his sapphire spheres were missing their distant light. I had missed those eyes. There were small, not-quite healed over cuts on his arms and head. I didn't really like that, but what I liked even less was the blood I saw on his side.

I stood, grabbing my crutch and hobbling over to him. I gave him a small smile when I reached him, although I'm sure he could see my dismay. He just stared at me. I then decided to do what I had wanted to for the past four weeks and wrapped my arms around his neck, resting my crutch against my side. I was too quick for him to react at first, and I had expected him to gently push me off, but he froze for a moment, then wrapped his arms tightly around my waist, burying his face into my hair, breathing me in. We remained that way for a moment, before I remembered his injury, and released him. He reluctantly let go, and I knew he had wanted to hold me more, which made me blush. I placed my hand near the blood stain, observing the reddened fabric, before looking back up at him.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Nothing," he responded. Lie.

"Zephyr," I scolded. He sighed, he was a rather good liar, but there was next to nothing he could get past me, and he knew it.

"I was chopping down the tree, and a rabbit scurried out from underneath it and startled me. I missed the tree, and grazed myself by accident," Lie.

I glared at him, but sighed, annoyed, and let it slide for now. I grasped his hand and began to lead him inside.

"Wa-wait, what are you doing?" he asked me, and I didn't turn around when I repsonded.

"Come on, I'm going to get you cleaned up, because, obviously, you won't do that on your own,"

**0/~~~~~~~~~~\\0**

**Welp, that's all I have for now, not a lot, but I promise I'll update as soon as possible! Thank you all so much for reading, I deeply appreaciate your patience with me. I even brought my laptop to school yesterday and was working on this story during class... and lunch... and after lunch... and finally finished it today at home. I've only left my bedroom to go to the bathroom, and I'm living off of my Rise of the Guardians DVD and ice cream flavored Oreos. Speaking of which, if any of you haven't seen Rise of the Guardians yet, you should! It's awesome! It is one of Dreamworks Animation's more serious films, like HTTYD. Anyway, thank you all so much for reading, reviews are cherished, and I'll see you next time my dears! Love!**


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